by Sören Stamer September 22, 2006 at 05:29 PM

Sun Microsystems CEO Jonathan Schwarz was in the news recently with his widely praised CEO blog. In the future, his blog posts will be translated into 11 languages to spread the news ideas even further. Jonathan takes blogging seriously:
"The blog has become for me the single most effective vehicle to communicate to all of our constituencies - developers, media, analysts and shareholders."

Dave Taylor has a different view: Why Jonathan Schwartz Should NOT Be Blogging.

"As much as I'm impressed by Jonathan's blog, I wonder how he has time to blog when he has a company that desperately needs management steered in the right direction."

And Dave made his point already last year: Why CEOs Shouldn’t Blog:

“The most important issue, however, is that the CEO is not the person in a company responsible for communicating with customers and the marketplace. Indeed, the traditional role of a Chief Executive Officer is to raise money. That's it. They're responsible for contributing to the strategic direction of the company, but most typically not the tactics.”

What about representing the company in public?
Well, I am with Jonathan. (Surprise ;-) Here is why:

Blogging is a force to be reckoned with. It is a social phenomenon that has the potential to change our society fundamentally. Customers, employees, shareholders, analysts, partners and even competitors will use it to express their views freely and with a personal touch.

CEOs do represent their company, and hence they do “communicate with customers”. In fact, they are the public face of the corporation. Think of Steve Jobs, Walt Disney, Larry Ellison, Henry Ford, Jeff Bezos and Bill Gates (everyone of these without a CEO blog, right?)

Will enterprises be able to ignore blogging? No, I don’t think so, just as enterprises were not able to ignore traditional media or the Internet in the first place.

Will CEOs be able to ignore blogging? In the short term, yes for sure. But I am convinced this will be different in the long run. Most CEOs are the public faces of their company already. And their CEO blogs are the logical next step.

Try to imagine business in the year 2020. Blogging is ubiquitous now. Nearly everyone does it, all of your employees, all of your customers and all of your shareholders. Enterprises have to deal with it. And you have to deal with it. Everyone uses a blog to communicate freely. Can you afford not to, when you’re the public face of your company?

CEOs make public announcements and CEOs give public speeches without lawyers dictating their words. That is daily business. Why shouldn’t CEOs post their opinions on a personal blog? Could be a great competitive advantage, if you do it right.

It is too dangerous? Well, life is a learning experience.